What books, courses or mentors did you pay for? Why are you not making money? It's usually psychology and discipline. And yes I'm a profitable trader. (Swing trading stocks)
There isn't a man on Wall Street who hasn't lost money trying to make the market pay for an automobile or a bracelet or a motor boat or a painting. Edwin Lefevre - Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
I lost my mind many times, and had countless AHA moments that in hindsight were short lived. Learn to trade is very hard, but once you understand the market, it becomes easy. At least for me. Be prepared for a learning curve that can take a few years. There is a reason why most people never make money. And that reason is surely not that they are stupid.
Watching other people trade gave me some ideas how to trade against them that's how I learned how to trade equity, especially the morning gap-up stocks. I am profitable in my trades but after taxes it is about the same as if I went out and got a full-time job in my line of work.
Being a broker for over 20 years provided me with the luxury of seeing who are the VERY few that actually make money. The success rate is VERY low....however here are some pointers that may help or shed another light with the help of two ogf my colleagues, both worked on the floor and off the floor, John Thorpe and Byron Zook: Diversify the markets you are trading. Diversify the strategies you are trading, swing, overnight (yes there are many different contracts and contract sizes that most accounts can handle overnight positions in). There is no one strategy that works all the time. Be well capitalized. never utilize all of your capital for margin. Do plan to trade everyday and do not plan on intraday trading everyday and just because you plan to trade everyday doesn't mean you need to! just review the markets and make mental notes about the market action and keep a journal about your observations, daily.. trading the same market everyday with the same tools, just won't work. The Markets are like large bodies of water, always changing shape. You just can't use the same vessel to navigate changing waters. Seek out the edge on all trades. At the end of the day, you’ll have to find what type of strategy works for your demeanor/personality/risk tolerance, etc., but it should always seek out the edge on trades. As the old adage goes, make your 2nd trade 1st, meaning know where you’re getting out before you get in. More on the topic here.
A small franchise almost never fails because someone sold you the recipe. So I guess it depends on the kind of business you are talking about. I'm thinking mostly tech startups.
Not sure if your question is limited to the equities markets, but I ladder bonds and hold to maturity. With the inverted yield curve short-term bonds have been great. I'm averaging about 6% (including compounding) and haven't lost a penny in years. I'm quick to reinvest coupons and payouts to address reinvestment risk. It takes some work... you must learn bond math, and keep on top of it. Maybe try a bond ETF or Mutual fund if you just want your percent but don't have time. The bond markets are for the pros; hundreds of billions in bonds cross every day. Small fry like me have cross the spread and go a little deeper in... you have to sweeten the deal or they won't take your offer. It's just not worth their time. I could probably do almost as well with a bond fund myself, but I really enjoy trading bonds; researching the markets, and laddering. I want this out of life It also takes a lot of patience. You won't get any big hits. It's the "tortoise" in the race against the hare. It works well if you also have a full-time job. Set up your ladders, go to work, and check back in a few months.. and be quick to employ those extra dollars from your paycheck. Many bonds are also exempt from taxes, which is also nice. Munis are exempt from state, local, AND Federal. Corporates get "called" from time to time (which is annoying), but it's part of the game. Personally I like marketable b
There's bunch of mistakes you can make on every trade and the market is usually unforgiving and punishes you when you make one of those mistakes. Best you can do is learn to stop making those mistakes.